#shadow and bone opinion

[filmmarvel]

Shadow and Bone Season 2 Pros and Cons

I’ll keep adding to this if I think of more things.

PROS:

Nikolai. His existence alone bumps this season up to another level of fun.

No I Am Become A Blade scene!! Thank god.

The sets, the costumes, all the little props and details! This show is so gorgeous, and I love the amount of care put into each of these artistic aspects.

I love that each intro is different. They’re always really fun to watch.

It will always be fun to see book characters come to life on screen. Even if they aren’t perfect, it’s still really enjoyable.

The Nichevo’ya looked so cool! As did the Sea Whip.

Overall I really liked the Shadow and Bone storyline! They got rid of a lot of the messier things from the book- Mal’s behavior, the weird Siege and Storm pacing, the overdramatized Nikolai/Alina/Mal love triangle, the unfortunate Ruin and Rising Ending, etc. Plus Nikolai just really gives them the upper hand.

Seeing Dirtyhands for the first time! The only time it really felt like watching Kaz from then books.

The coronation scene was gorgeous, and honestly I thought the Jurda Parem bit was really cool.

Ben Barnes was fantastic as usual.

The Worldbuilding was on a whole other level this season! Even if it was rushed, it was still really fun to get to see so much more beyond Ravka.

David and Genya’s storyline was beautifully done.

CONS:

Pretty much everything with the Crows. I realize my ‘set your expectations low and you can’t be disappointed’ approach to this season maybe isn’t the best way to think about it. Even when thinking about their plotline from a completely detached-from-the-books view, it was still messy. My primary complaint from the beginning was always the lack of coherency between their two plotlines. After further thought, pretty much everything they did was a mess. In bringing so much of their book plotlines into this season, they rushed the hell out of it and sucked all the poignancy from the books out. And again, I’m not mad because they did some rearranging of book plot lines, I’m just mad that they did it so poorly.

The acting. To be honest I’m surprised that I haven’t really seen many other people mentioning this. I’m not saying they were all bad, but the fact is that Ben Barnes is really the only great actor there. That’s been true since season 1. I try not to let it bother me too much, and to be honest I had totally forgotten how bad some of it was in season 1 until I watched season 2.

The pacing. Honestly I’m sticking to when I said I preferred this rushed pacing over the original Siege and Storm pacing. It was fast paced, and exciting. Unfortunately it was also just way too much way too fast.

Some of the green screens were… obvious.

I can’t be the only one a little surprised that they change the way Alina’s power looks every single episode. But hey, screw continuity, at least it looks cool.

No Fedyor and Ivan :(

What the hell was that look between Inej and Tolya in the finale?? What? This is one of the only times I’ll get annoyed with changes from the book. It just seems really unnecessary, why insert more romance when you have such a beautiful love story between Kaz and Inej?

Obviously I’m not the only one wondering what they’re planning with Alina’s dark powers. That just didn’t really make sense, and her smiling made even less sense. Hopefully they’ll explain this if there’s a season 3!

As much as I love that they axed the whole ‘Alina loses her power and settles down with Mal’ ending, I have to say that I didn’t love that they broke up at the end? It just didn’t really make sense to me. So much of the show is focused around their love for each other, and the fact that they’re each other’s homes. That being said, I didn’t hate every aspect of this ending- I didn’t hate that Alina isn’t giving up her seat at the table, and it made sense that Mal didn’t really want that life. So I don’t think this is 100% a Con- it was just a little confusing thematically. It felt like they tried to fix the Ruin and Rising ending and just swung too far the other way.

Overall I’ll always really enjoy this show, it’s really fun to see material from the books onscreen. I had great time watching this season. Do I think this season was great? Obviously not, but clearly my expectations were low enough to begin with that I wasn’t too disappointed. Anyways, let me know if you agree, and if you have anything you’d add!

[mossytrashcan]

body horror alina was absolutely wasted by netflix smh

(also, I spent two days on this, so it’d be reaaaally great if it didn’t flop lol)

[padfoot-lupin77]

Time for the debate of the century: what music does Kaz Brekker listen to?

[lunarthecorvus]

Kaz = Black Cat (feral)

Inej = Gray Cat

Jesper = Siamese Cat

Wylan = Ginger Cat

Nina = Brown Cat

Matthias = White Mancoon Cat

[sky-neverending]

Jesper goes to college for agriculture but then switches to a theater degree, Kaz is in economics and like business, Nina studies International Relations, Inej is either an English or a Psychology major, Wylan is chem or music, probably a chem major and a music theory minor for his fathers sake, and Matthias… honestly i don’t know what Matty does. he’s just there. he works at a coffee shop with Jes. and he does school but like i have no clue what.

[wafflesandkruge]

@dregstrash + @rietveldbrothers​ about SaB: Nikolai Edition

+ bonus:

[blessedsweetgirl]

The Crows should have had a separate show with a good theme song so if they decided to make a cameo in the Shadow and Bone series, their theme song would start playing as they appeared and it would have been so dramatic and metal as hell

Plus I think they should have had left the SoC books alone and showed their adventures before the books happend if they wanted to combine the Shadow and bone with Six of Crows

Netflix' Shadow and Bone did not do the crows justice

[bazberkker]

Opinion: What disappoints me the most about Shadow and Bone being canceled is the fact that we never got to see Kuwei Yul-Bo, a character who deserved more presence in the books. I love Leigh Bardugo and the Grishaverse, but something that had severely disappointed me about the series is the way it treated its Asian characters. I'm a writer and I wholeheartedly understand why we didn't see a lot of Shu Han or Shu characters in general. Again, I'm not trying to "cancel" Bardugo or what have you because I totally get it. You can't write a story about everyone ever. But the fact that we never saw how Kuwei's trauma had really affected him, or the treatment of Bo and Kuwei by their country made me feel icky. I had hoped that King of Scars and Rule of Wolves would give him the same treatment Zoya and David got, but it didn't.

While Netflix's Shadow and Bone was messy, I'm so thankful for its diverse casting and belief that all characters are valuable and nuanced. At the end of the day, I'm just heartbroken that my favorite underrated character never got that same treatment. Kuwei Yul-Bo, you will always be the brightest pyromaniac of my heart.

[aleksanderscult]

What would you think darklina be like in HOTD universe?

Okay hear me out on this.

Both of them from great Houses that got married out of convenience but as time passed grew to genuine love. It's such a fantastic trope if handled carefully and that's the one I imagine for them.

Now from which Houses though?

If your question is about which side they would pick during the Civil War then I would say both of them would choose the Blacks. Alina would never side with misogynistic people (she only tolerates it when it's targeted on her) and for Aleksander it would be a matter of logic as well. Rhaenyra was the firstborn and Aegon (even though a man) is more concerned for his own pleasures than for his people.

[fallen-goldfishcracker]

Is anyone else crying thinking about how physically affectionate Inej is able to be Jesper? Inej has this horrible trauma, and explicitly said that contact with others is difficult, and yet there are so many instances in the book of her hugging Jesper, of him hooking his arm through hers, of her getting on her tiptoes and kissing him in the cheek.

That she feels safe enough around him to be so casually affectionate- shows not only her incredible emotional strength- but also the amount of trust, and of love, she must have in him.

With Jesper, Inej feels safe. With Jesper, Inej is allowed to be light and fun and just a little bit silly, acting like the teenager she should be.

I love these two so much :)

[patovpran]

Person that was at the screening of s2 and said Wylan has the best intro, Wesper will deliver, s1 Kanej is referred to as crumbs compared to s2, ruthless Kaz, the storyline is well thought out and doesn't feel rushed, the overall quality is better since they also had a bigger budget...I need March 16th to get here NOW

The post can be found here.

[filmmarvel]

SEASON TWO THOUGHTS

Spoilers below!

Overall, I was really happy with the Shadow and Bone side of things, and a little disappointed with the Six of Crows storylines.

If you ask me, Shadow and Bone went great- they did a fantastic job introducing Tolya, Tamar, and Nikolai (who’s character was especially well handled); they did a fun little uno reverse thing on the unpopular Ruin and Rising ending; I thought they did a nice job combining the books (pretty fast paced, but better than the meandering original Siege and Storm plot); it was a little less cliched and corny than Season 1; it was exciting and significant and I really enjoyed it.

Six of Crows wasn’t that bad! It’s not like I was really upset or offended by it like some people around here lmao. I was a little disappointed that they made such big jumps with so many plotlines. As I said in my last post, I expected some advancements, but there were a few that were a little too emotionally significant (and significant to certain character’s arcs) to be addressed and over with so quickly. The main things I was a little disappointed by? Wylan and Jesper being less slowburn-y, and the smaller stuff this season: Jesper’s secret and backstory being totally revealed, some Wylan stuff, Inej leaving already, etc. Now I think it’s important to view the books and the tv show as two very different things. I don’t think this could’ve ever even gotten close to how great Six of Crows was. I stopped hoping for a 100% loyal Six of Crows spin-off a long time ago. Because of this, while I might’ve been a little bit disappointed, that isn’t my primary issue.

The main thing I didn’t really like this season actually didn’t have to do with them advancing the plot so much. It was, as I mentioned in my last post, the lack of coherency between the Crow’s two plotlines. The first part of the season was intense: they were taking down Pekka, and we were seeing Dirtyhands for really the first time. He was ruthless, becoming the Kaz we know from the books. So it was a pretty sharp transition from that dark intensity to them heading to Ravka for the second half of their plotline, for the sake of the Shadow and Bone plot, and of course, just giving the Crows something to do. It sorta gave me whiplash- it felt like a lot of that momentum was abandoned, and it just wasn’t really a clean transition.

[thecarnivorousmuffinmeta]

IDK if you ever read Shadow and Bone, but I think you might like the villain, Darkling. He reminds me of your Tom Riddle a little. He is the only one trying to save the magical people from oppression, then the heroes kill him and celebrate; then, after his death, things get so much worse for the magical people. It's just very tragic in a funny way. The author Bardugo seems to not realize what she created, much like JKR with Tom.

Haven't read it, haven't seen it, sorry anon.

[piolhyna]

Unpopular opinion: Specially in the Aleksander fan club, but the Darkling for the good of a story (and his own lol) needs to change.

I know, the blasphemy. But it's true! Homeboy over here is heavily traumatized and emotionally constipated.

Do I want that for him forever? Life has sucked, he has a point. But jesus, even if his defense mechanism of shutting everyone out and everything kinda works, it's a miserable way to live!

I want him to see the good in people again, to have hope for a better future without blood, sweat and tears. I want him to connect with his emotions and to choose to be vulnerable and seek love without chains.

I remember from a meta from the wonderful @theweeklydiscourse that they thought Alina and the Darkling's story could have evolved in a direction in which Alina and her new perspective could make the Darkling see and hope for a better life, a gentler life. And that's what makes me so mad about the canon 😭

Give 👏 me 👏 that 👏 story. I want an inmortal that falls in love with life again. I want the Darkling to be in deep depression, to tell Alina "this would be what happens to you" and for her to be like "hell no. Watch this" and for him to be like "I WAS WRONG. I want to trust in people again. The happiness of having them is worth the pain of losing them"

Also controversial opinion, but I don't want the Darkling to rule Ravka?? My perfect ending will be for them to retire into an University of Grisha Studies. I want him to fund a new Little Palace free from the pain of the past, an actual school for the Grisha and people who want to understand the Grisha. No more politics, no more fights, that's toxic. I want them to build and protect the future through education of the masses. There aren't any fics about that peopleeeee 😭

[lilisouless]

Grishaverse opinions no one asked for, updated post show

Top 5 characters

Jesper

Nina

Inej

Wylan

The loser with ugly hair and uglier personality

Bottom 5 characters ( i Can awnser questions)

Sergei

Marie

The dark/ing in R&R AND season two of the show

Show!Nina

Number 5 i won’t say it, but people that know me probably can tell and I have given my reasons many time,also last time I stated d I don’t hate them anymore,I just think they don’t have the right to be that bland

Top 3 books

Crooked kingdom

Six of crows

Rule of wolves

Bottom 3 books

Shadow and bone

Life of the saints

Siege and Storm

Otp (just top 5) in that order

Wesper

Kanej

Ninej

Zoyalai

Helnik

Bottom ships (just 5) in that order

Da/lina

Nikolai x Nina

Nik/lina

Zoya x Mal (although the fans seem nice, all three of them)

Show!Helnik (congrats netflix, you dethroned J/K)

[xhaoticprince]

proof (if you needed more because let's be real, we knew) that Netfilx doesn't give a shit:

Shadow and Bone, Lockwood and Co, I am not okay with this, The Society: Shows that were watched and liked by a lot of people, many asking for a renewal of it. If it was renewed for a second season before being canceled, people had to fight for it

Avatar: The Last Air Bender: Good show that was very criticized for some of the directions it took, already confirmed to be renewed for the seasons 2 and 3